Has Herzog Lost His Touch?

A decade ago, Whitey Herzog was wheeling and dealing with the St. Louis Cardinals. His team won the world championship in 1982.

Herzog, now general manager of the California Angels, has apparently lost that magical touch.

Kelly Gruber, acquired in December from Toronto with the hope he could rebound from a sub-par 1992 and fill a California void at third base, turned up with a bad left shoulder. Arthroscopic surgery showed a torn rotator cuff and labrum.

Gruber says he hurt the shoulder in Game 3 of the World Series, but the Blue Jays say they didn't know about it.

Angels manager Buck Rodgers wants the deal rescinded. Doctors say Gruber can be in action within eight weeks but Rodgers is convinced it will be late June, at the earliest, before the Angels could count on him. Gruber will earn $4 million (Toronto agreed to pay $1.5 million of it when it acquired Luis Sojo from the Angels).

The incident is reminiscent of 1984 when Montreal traded Al Oliver to San Francisco for Max Venable and Fred Breining. It turned out Breining had a bad arm. Twenty-nine days later, the Giants sent Andy McGaffigan to the Expos in place of Breining.

Last month, the Angels sent Lee Stevens to Montreal for Jeff Tuss, who, it turned out, had retired from baseball to accept a football scholarship at Fresno State.

Last winter, the Angels decided not to re-sign free agents Dave Winfield and Wally Joyner. They decided to sign free agent Alvin Davis, but released him in June. They traded Dave Gallagher to the Mets for DH Hubie Brooks, who hit .216 in 82 games. They traded Kyle Abbott to Philadelphia for Von Hayes, who hit .225 in 94 games and was released. They traded Mike Fetters and Glenn Carter to Milwaukee for Chuck Crim, who was 7-6 with a 5.17 ERA in 57 games.